Spooning

The shaping of a high-back chair to fit the back of the sitter. The spoon-back was introduced from the Dutch in the time of William and Mary. At first the spooning was slight, but in the Queen Anne period it was more pronounced, and remained in fashion till the advent of Chippendale.

Springs

Metal springs for use in the seats of chairs, settees, etc., were introduced soon after the middle of the eighteenth century.

Spurious Furniture

See Reproductions.

Squab

A loose stuffed cushion, generally used for the seats of chairs, settees and long stools, until the upholstered seat was introduced towards the end of the seventeenth century. It was then still used on the luxurious arm-chairs and settees that followed, but not as a rule on side chairs, and has never become extinct.

Square-Back Chairs

A descriptive title only, to distinguish the shape from many others, having no special application to any school or period. In the eighteenth century the Sheraton school has some claim to be considered a notable exponent of the square-back chair.

Stalker, J., And Parker, G

Authors of "A Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing" in 1688. The publication of this book, which remained the standard one on the subject for many years, is an indication of the deep interest taken in lacquer work in England at that period.

Stand

A framework, small table, low-boy, etc., on which chests, cabinets, chests of drawers, candles, basins and the like were placed. The carved and gilt stands in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by Daniel Marot, Grinling Gibbons, William Kent and others were often works of great magnificence and beauty.

Standing

A verbal prefix used to describe a piece of furniture mounted on a stand - for example, standing buffet, standing cupboard, etc.

Standing Buffet

An early form of the buffet, which was developed from a superstructure of primitive description mounted upon a stand.

Stepped Curve

A term used in a special sense in connection with furniture to denote a sudden break or step in the direction of a curve or at the junction of a curve with a straight piece. Notable examples are seen in the uprights of chairs of the Queen Anne and early Georgian periods. Chippendale made little use of the stepped curve, but it appears again in modified form in some of the chair-backs of Hepplewhite.

Steps

With the growing importance in the eighteenth century of libraries in the houses of the wealthy much attention was given by the leading cabinet-makers to literary appointments ; and among others library steps, which were made in many ingenious forms, including conveniences for writing and for folding up, etc. Sheraton paid special attention to library steps and his designs included a set for King George III.

Stick-Back

The term sometimes used to describe the back of a "Windsor" chair. The rods here called "sticks" are sometimes called "fiddle-strings."

Stiles

The vertical members of a piece of framing, into which the horizontal members or rails - in the case of some doors the top, frieze, lock and bottom rails - are tenoned. A vertical member interposed between the stiles is called a "mullion". The "uprights" of some panel-back chairs are properly termed stiles.